The annual dollar loss absorbed by restaurant operators due to addition errors in dinner check totals results from difficulty adding in high stress, high distraction situations, at rush hour, for example. The three causes responsible for most dinner check addition errors are: column confusion; long column carry-over errors; and single column rechecks.
The problem of column confusion is solved by providing vertical lines in the format denoting the three most frequently used columns to eliminate drifting digits, an expedient not available in conventional restaurant checks. Eliminating the carry-over mistake problem is another matter, however, and again is unaddressed by conventional checks.
After studying the carry-over problem at some length, the present inventor learned that most carry-over errors occur after the time the employee notates the "units" digit of a column total and before that same employee writes down the "tens" digit of the column total at the top of the next-to-be-added column. These errors appear to be caused by distraction and intrusions that cause the waiter or waitress momentarily to forget the carry-over digit of the column total. When the employee is temporarily distracted by something happening around him or her, the eye stops for an instant in its movement to the top of the next column. If, in this split-second pause, the employee's eye happens to focus on a more easily remembered number than the number being carried over, a 2 say, when the carry-over digit is a 3; or a 3, when the carry-over digit is a 4 or a 5, then the waiter or waitress is likely mentally to change the carry-over with the result that an addition error will be made against the house. This phenomenon explains why most restaurant check errors are in fact against the house rather than in the house's favor.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate distraction caused carry-over errors by making it possible to write down complete column totals as they are summed. A feature and advantage of the present invention is that once all the columns are totalled and recorded in this manner, they can be summed in a normal addition procedure to reach the total meal charge. Subsequently, the check total is reached by simply adding in liquor and sales tax charges, etc.
Furthermore, while most people can add correctly under normal stress-free conditions, they are prone to error when under pressure not to make mistakes, and it is this fear of making errors that usually is the cause of additional mistakes being made. It is therefore another object of the invention to eliminate much of this pressure by making it possible for the employee easily to check for addition errors without having to go back and add everything over again in the normal manner if there is any uncertainty as to whether he or she has reached an incorrect column total. The present invention virtually eliminates the carry-over error problem at the same time making long column re-checks quick and easy.